Dear Diary

Diane, help is mucho apreciado!

Dear Diary,

Whooee! ... I'm a bit tuckered. Just finished shoveling 2½ inches of those "light, patchy fog spots" from my driveway. I'm not a higly-paid, professional meteologist with an MBW from M.I.T., so I'm not about to question the weather folks' word. Because they've not only got all that book-learning, they also have lots of hi-tech gadgetry -- radar, sonar and early-warning, doppler-effective doohickeys. But it sure looked like snow and ice to me, and piled up there along the fence, it still does.

Surely you know, Diary, I'm just poking fun -- I really like the weather folks. In fact, I'm considering applying for a meterological position, myself. I reckon I'd be an outstanding team player. I'm very reliable sometimes, and since the only critical requirement appears to be showing up at the studio at the right time with the wrong data, I figger I'd have at least a 70% chance of precipitating inaccuracies with the best of 'em.

Debacle
I've always thought I'd be a real success at being a weatherman/person or whatever is politically correct or incorrect. I don't know the difference between partly cloudy or partly sunny, but one could always switch back and forth to make oneself sound knowledgeable. If you see a few clouds, you can predict a possibility of showers. If there are more clouds, there's a 50% chance. If it's starting to rain or snow, you can quite accurately predict the possibility of precipitation. Etc., etc. I wonder how long these people study to figure all this out?

Dear Diary, How nice it is to have such good friends here on A2K and I must thank one and all for their kind thoughts. Mother-in-law is receiving diuretics via IV and it seems to be helping. She also slept well last night thanks to a little sleeping pill and the security of knowing there were people around her 'just in case'. The cardiologist assured her they would do nothing invasive now -- just use medication to get her stable, but she will stay in the hospital for a few days to make sure.

On the subject of weather, I watched this evening and saw lots of pink (i.e. ice) all over western MA, which is, of course, where my daughter goes to grad school. Being a natural worry-Mom, I called her and left a message asking her to call to let me know she'd made it home okay. She called a short time later and told me it hadn't even rained there let alone iced (though she did say the college cancelled evening classes in anticipation of icing). Meanwhile, we've had rain all day with temperatures going up this evening instead of down (much preferable in my personal opinion).

Chatoyant certainly has one heck of a miserable day yesterday. I'm so happy she has her heat (any problem becomes so much harder to bear when one is cold). If it makes her feel any better, it's been my experience that when one has an abcess, the dentist simply prescribes antibiotics and does nothing else till the swelling and such subsides (so you're ahead of the game).

Again, many thanks to all for their friendship. I really love this place.

Dear Diary,

What bandylu said up there in her last sentence.

You sound like our maintenance supervisor's daughter, Bandylu. She called a couple of months ago when it finally rained and told him to stay off the phone because of the danger from lightning.

Today, we put up the Christmas tree at work and Barney (the office cat - formerly Leto) not only got to messing with the ornaments, he started climbing after them. All the way to the top, and way out on the branches trying to catch them. It was hilarious. And nobody, not even Scrooge McBoss stopped him. And nobody had a camera. I'm hesitant to think what that tree is going to look like in the morning. Sure hope Scrooge still thinks it's funny.

I change my mind. I guess I will post here from time to time.

LOL Roger. I use to have a cat that climbed the Christmas tree

Alright kiddies, who's going to be next to get out of bed and post on Dear Diary? Today I go to Yoga...great for deteriorating joints and stiff parts...really. Later, we visit lawyer to redo our wills to meet Georgia requirements. I might even plant some more pansies. Sunday we watch Florida State basketball team (tv)who is showing exciting potential; plus, get this, we get to play with our only grandson...that's right, I make funny sounds and crawl.

Dear Diary,I thought it necessary to shave today.
6 days of stubble irritates both mine and my girlfriends face.

Dear Diary,

I wrote a long entry, but my PC crashed when I went to post it - so I am a bit pissed off. But never mind, I will try and recreate it again.

3rd day in Prague and we have some snow outside. Thank god for that, the temps have risen to a more bearable level (-2 right now) - looks like it will be a good evening to go out to the Christmas market and do some shopping (I promised all my friends that I will get them Christmas gifts from Prague, but havent bought a single thing as yet )

Last evening began as very nice, became interesting later, then a bit embarassing and then....well I don't know, by that time I was too drunk After leaving work, spent sometime with my czech bf (well not technically a bf but I have been seeing him now for 3 yrs, but only when I come to Prague) - every moment spent with him is magical !! Had to join my collegue and my Managing Director, who are here with me in Prague, as they wanted to have a group night together, and as a good corporate citizen I had to comply (how could I say to my MD ) So reluctantly left Petr at 2230 and joined them at a bar. My MD turned out to be "Chilled Out Dude" which was very surprising - as he was always the quiet type back in London and wore his "senior management" hat very prominently. He insisted on taking us to a gogo bar (which he had found and promised amazing girls) and buying us drinks there. So we ended up in a place which was aptly named "Banana Club" - I have to admit, the girls were stunning the music was great, and we were having a great time !! And the booze kept flowing. There was a male dancer who was verrrry sexy, but being with my MD and collegue (I am not out at work) I was sort of keeping away from him (though checking him out discreetly). After he finished his show, he came and stood next to me - and I just toasted him with my drink and commented on how good he danced. And that started him off - he started chatting me up !!! And it got very embarassing, as you can imagine, but we did end up exchanging phone numbers! And when he got on to dance next, we was pointing at me with one hand and making suggestive movements (u know what kind) !!! My MD and my collegue are still ribbing me abt it LOL

But a great evening all in all - we have a staff Christmas party today - so more partying and I go back to London tomorrow evening - weekend will be spent recovering.

Gautam
Hope you are taking pictures or buying postcards, did you see that place with all the skulls and bones yet? WOW

hebba, I hope your girlfriend is happy...being married, 62, retired and such, I tend to do the same. My wife isn't grumpy...: )

Lordy Gautam,
Are you liberated or what...I gather you are not over 60; elsewhile, you would have been dead by now...over played...so to speak.

Dear Diary, I got up this morning about 7:30 am, turned on the t.v. to see how the stock market is doing, shaved, washed my face, brushed my teeth, put on some after-shave lotion, combed my hair, picked up the newspaper from our driveway, drove to the coffee shop, poured myself a cup of java, mixed in some sugar and cream, sat down and read my newspaper, came home, swept our front and back yard of leaves, worked on our New Year's white elephant party invitations on the computer, prepared a summary of the itinerary of our planned trans-Canada train trip in the fall, read some of the instructions manual for our new iMac computer, went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch, came home, and checked on emails. It's now 1:40 pm. c.i.

Dear Diary: I'm beginning to feel . . . normal. Two rooms are ready, my office is fabulous, and my boyfriend will be setting up the kitchen--putting things in the new cabinets and such--even though the stove isn't hooked up. Yep, "normal" is coming along just--excuse me, while I go scrape the mud off my shoes: I had to chase the hogs out of the yard again--I'm back, like I said, "normal" is coming . . .

Dupre
Did you say you were chasing hogs out of your yard? LOL

Yep, I think we're due for a hog-roastin' round here.

Now . . . about those longhorn calves that keep slipping under the electric fence . . .

LOL, that is too funny

dupre, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is you think you're approaching normal. The bad news is, you just made friends with those dogs by chasing them. They love it, and will be back again and again and again..... c.i.

Hello, cicerone imposter. No typo there. They really are "hogs," not "dogs." Funny how quiet they got when we butchered their friend last week. Ever since they've been breaking out of their pens.